Rabat – Morocco’s Ministry of Health confirmed two new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) this evening, March 19, bringing the total of confirmed cases in the country to 63.
Moroccan laboratories also performed 31 medical tests for suspected COVID-19 cases that yielded negative results. Since the start of the outbreak, Morocco performed tests on a total of 307 suspected patients that did not carry the virus.
Since the detection of the first COVID-19 case in Morocco on March 2, authorities have doubled down on efforts to prevent a major outbreak in the country.
The preventive measures include the closure of most places of public gatherings including mosques, coffee shops, restaurants, hammams (public baths), and cinemas. The government is also urging citizens to practice self-isolation.
While most of the confirmed patients contracted the virus abroad, Minister of Health Khalid Ait Taleb reported the appearance of local infections on March 18.
The epidemic has so far claimed the lives of two people, an 89-year-old woman in Casablanca and a 75-year-old man in Sale. Meanwhile, two other patients have fully recovered from the disease.
Morocco remains in the first phase of the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic. Authorities will only move onto the second stage of epidemic-control if the number of confirmed cases exceeds 500.
